Head of Data Engineering

Lorien; London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Lorien seeks a Head of Data Engineering to drive and evolve enterprise data capabilities for a leading insurance client in London. This role requires visionary leadership with expertise in technologies such as Azure, Snowflake, and Kafka, overseeing strategic direction and team management.

Benefits

Comprehensive benefits package including health insurance.

Financial support for ongoing learning and development.

Collaborative and innovative company culture.

Opportunities for rapid career progression.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Head of Data Engineering or similar role.
• Expertise in Azure, Snowflake, Kafka, and Data Lake technologies.
• Strong knowledge of data governance and regulatory compliance.

Responsibilities

• Lead the data engineering strategy, architecture, and operating model.
• Own the full lifecycle of the data platform including ETL processes.
• Establish strong data governance practices and compliance frameworks.

Skills

Data Engineering

Azure

Snowflake

Kafka

Data Governance

DevOps

CI/CD

Data Integration

Team Leadership

Stakeholder Management

Job description

This range is provided by Lorien. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Base pay range

Direct message the job poster from Lorien

Connecting Top IT Talent with game changing opportunities | 9 years of Strategic Tech Recruitment | 20 years in IT Sales/Account Management

Our client are seeking a Head of Data Engineering to lead the strategic direction, delivery, and ongoing evolution of enterprise data engineering capabilities for a leading insurance client in London. This role blends deep technical expertise with visionary leadership, responsible for defining, building, and scaling a modern data platform aligned to business and regulatory needs.

As the Head of Data Engineering, you will own the end-to-end data engineering function – overseeing architecture, platform operations, integration strategy, and team leadership.

You’ll shape the roadmap for data engineering initiatives across Azure, Snowflake, Kafka, and modern Lakehouse architectures, ensuring resilience, scalability, governance, and performance.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the Data Engineering Function: Define and implement the data engineering strategy, architecture, and operating model across the enterprise.
• Platform Ownership: Own the full lifecycle of the data platform – ingestion, storage, transformation, governance, and access – with a focus on Azure, Snowflake, Kafka, and Data Lakes.
• Strategic Leadership: Shape the vision and roadmap for the data engineering function in line with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and technological advancement.
• Technical Oversight: Guide the design of scalable, secure, and automated data architectures including Lakehouse, Kappa, and Lambda patterns.
• Governance and Compliance: Establish strong data governance practices, ensuring robust access control, auditability, and compliance frameworks.
• DevOps & Automation: Champion automation and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), driving efficiency, resilience, and self-service capabilities.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with data architects, DevOps, security, and analytics teams to deliver end-to-end platform capabilities.
• Team Leadership & Mentorship: Build and lead high-performing data engineering teams, fostering a culture of innovation, ownership, and continuous improvement.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders, communicating complex technical concepts in business-friendly terms.
• Process Excellence: Drive adoption of SDLC best practices across the data platform, ensuring reliability and high standards of software engineering.

Key Skills & Experience

• Proven experience as a Head of Data Engineering, Principal Data Engineer, or Lead Data Architect, managing large-scale data platform initiatives.
• Expertise in Azure, Snowflake, Kafka, and Data Lake technologies, with a strong grasp of modern architectural patterns (Lakehouse, Lambda, Kappa).
• Strong knowledge of data governance, security, and regulatory compliance within enterprise environments.
• Experience with data integration, enterprise data modeling, and real-time data streaming solutions.
• Deep understanding of DevOps, CI/CD, and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) for data platforms.
• Strong grasp of Data Mesh and Data Fabric principles and their practical application.
• Excellent people leadership skills, with a proven ability to scale and lead technical teams in fast-paced environments.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to align data engineering outcomes to business value.

What We Offer

• Salary up to £140,000
• Comprehensive benefits package including health insurance and wellbeing/mental health support.
• Financial support for ongoing learning and development.
• Collaborative and innovative company culture.
• Opportunities for rapid career progression across a fast-growing consultancy.

Please note this role is for UK based candidates only and have full right work status in the UK.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Information Technology

• Industries

  IT Services and IT Consulting

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